Tea Party Groups Plan Protest at Romney Speech

By KATE ZERNIKE

Published: September 1, 2011

Many Tea Party supporters have been less than enthusiastic about the prospect of Mitt Romney becoming the Republican nominee for president in 2012, but now that antipathy is becoming louder.

Several Tea Party groups in the early primary state of New Hampshire are planning to protest outside a Romney speech on Sunday. They will be joined by FreedomWorks, the libertarian advocacy group that has helped Tea Party groups to grow across the country and that on Wednesday dismissed Mr. Romney as a ''political opportunist'' for trying to claim Tea Party support.

With Gov. Rick Perry of Texas surging ahead of Mr. Romney in some polls - especially among Tea Party supporters - Mr. Romney told a New Hampshire newspaper recently that he thought he, too, had plenty of Tea Party support.

But many Tea Party supporters view him with suspicion because of the health care legislation he enacted as governor of Massachusetts, which was largely considered a model for the federal health care overhaul they ardently oppose.

''I don't know of a single Tea Party person who likes or supports Romney,'' said Andrew Hemingway, chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire and the lead organizer of the protest Sunday. ''It's really pretty simple: the Tea Party stands for limited government, free markets and individual responsibility. By passing his health care plan, he violated all three of those.''

''Why all of a sudden now is he interested in the Tea Party?'' Mr. Hemingway added. ''It's obviously because now Rick Perry is involved and is garnering huge support from Tea Party folks.''

Mr. Romney is speaking at a stop on the Tea Party Express bus tour in Concord, N.H. FreedomWorks had been a participant in the tour, but announced Wednesday that it was pulling out to protest the Tea Party Express invitation to Mr. Romney, and to a speech at an earlier stop on the tour by Orrin Hatch, the senior senator from Utah, who some Tea Party groups are hoping to unseat in 2012.

The protest also highlights the lack of agreement among Tea Party supporters about what tack to take in the presidential campaign. Many Tea Party groups criticized Amy Kremer, the chairwoman of Tea Party Express, for telling an interviewer this spring that the Tea Party movement would support whoever became the Republican nominee, even if it were Mr. Romney.

''If every political opportunist claiming to be a Tea Partier is accepted unconditionally, then the Tea Party brand loses all meaning,'' said Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks. The protest Sunday, he said, would ''remind Mitt Romney that when it comes to policy, actions speak louder than words.''

Brendan Steinhauser, the group's director of federal and state campaigns, said, ''We need to force this discussion to take place.''

In a Gallup poll in mid-August, Mr. Perry led among Tea Party supporters, with 35 percent. Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Mr. Romney followed with 14 percent each. (Among Republicans who did not support the Tea Party, Mr. Romney led with 23 percent, follow by Mr. Perry at 20 percent and Representative Ron Paul of Texas at 16 percent; Mrs. Bachmann had the support of 6 percent.)

Mr. Hemingway had kind words for Mr. Perry. ''He governed from the right,'' he said, ''He did things the Tea Party wants. Mitt Romney didn't. Mitt Romney governed from the left.'' But Mr. Hemingway said that he had not yet settled on a candidate to support, adding that he liked Mrs. Bachmann and Mr. Paul. ''I'm waiting to see which one moves forward as the leader.''

FreedomWorks, similarly, said that it was not making any endorsements. Mr. Steinhauser said he would support ''the most conservative candidate that can win.''

''It's not Romney,'' he said. ''There are other folks who are emerging, and we want to give them a chance to compete.''

Mr. Romney is scheduled to speak at the Tea Party Express rally Sunday in Concord at 6 p.m. The protesters will hold a press conference across the street at 5:30 p.m.

Mr. Hemingway said that five New Hampshire groups had pledged to attend, and that a coalition of 40 additional groups was likely to join as well. On Wednesday, he said, a group from Vermont announced that it, too, would join.

This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.